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Monday, December 26, 2011

fit for royalty: burda 7376

Well, not quite, but I do love my new royal blue dress.

Or is it purple? I can't be sure, but it's lovely either way. The pattern is Burda Style 7376... the first Burda pattern (magazine, pdf or print) I've ever used, but it was so easy to make I'm almost embarrassed I used a pattern at all. Good thing I bought it for only $2.99 or whatever when JoAnn was having a rare Burda sale. I figured with such a simple yet elegant design, there'd be a lot of these circulating the blogosphere, but I only found two (Byrdie Couture and Carry on Dancing). Two seems like a scant number compared to the thousands of Colette Ginger skirts out there. I'm a regular ole trailblazer.

This dress has NO closures. Rad. It has a V-front and back, so it's easy to slip over the head. From there it's just a tent shape. The only other design elements are the tucks on the shoulders and the two back darts for better fit. There's also the waist tie that's supposed to be sewn into the back darts, but I eliminated that in case I wanted to wear a dressier belt. Mine's also a couple inches shorter than the dress was meant to be. My favorite thing about this dress is that I can wear it for almost any occasion or season, depending on simple changes in styling and accessories.

I made the front neck about an inch lower than the pattern. It looked fine on the model's dress on the pattern envelope, but the model's tunic neckline looked much higher so I was afraid it'd turn out that way. I like how the V looks straight on, but the interfacing and front facing make the top heavy enough to gape easily, so I will have to wear a camisole.

The fabric is challis of some kind -- I think rayon, not cotton. I would completely adore it were it not for the wrinkle factor. After a 45-minute car ride I was pretty rumpled. But, it's the perfect weight, texture, softness and drape for this kind of dress. And the color is bomb.

...Eyeing a pedestrian on the sidewalk out front, hoping they won't catch me hovering in my doorway for seemingly no reason. I hate posing right there, but the rest of my apartment is as dark as the dickens.